Coupler yoke with draft gear removal means

ABSTRACT

A yoke for use in draft rigging of railway cars having a compressing means built into the butt of the yoke to facilitate compression of a draft gear contained within the yoke to shorten it for entry into or removal from the draft gear pocket.

United States Patent 1191 Cope [ Dec. 24, 1974 COUPLER YOKE WITH DRAFT GEAR REMOVAL MEANS [75] Inventori [73] Assignee: Dresser Industries, Inc., Dallas, Tex.

[22] Filed: Mar. 22, 1974 211 App]. No.2 453,624

[52] US. Cl 213/67 A [51] Int. Cl. 861g 9/20 5s1 Field of Search 213/67-72 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.766.609 6/1930 Dath 2l3/67 A Geoffrey Wilton Cope, Williamsville,

2,147,018 2/l939 Dwyer 2l3/67 R X Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Gene A. Church Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Raymond T. Majesko [57] ABSTRACT A yoke for use in draft rigging of railway cars having a compressing means built into the butt of the yoke to facilitate compression of a draft gear contained within the yoke to shorten it for entry into or removal from the draft gear pocket.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures It has long been a practice to compress a draft gear before entering it into the yoke and then installing it with the yoke into the railway car draft gear pocket.

I This is necessary because the extended length of the draft gear is made longer than the draft gear pocket to assure that no slack action will develop between the draft gear and the pocket even after a limited amount of wear or enlargement of the pocket from coupling impact.

In the past, the preload of the draft gear tending to tion. Removal could be accomplished by numerous methods mainly because the precompression force expanding the gear in the draft gear pocket was comparatively low. a

A number of todays draft gears have a very high capacity and preload. Also, there is no simple way to preshorten them with frangible precompression blocks; and, once they are installed in the pocket, they are very difficult to remove by traditional methods. There are many cases of the draft gear and/or yoke having been destroyed in the removal attempt even though they were in serviceable condition prior to removal.

One removal method which can develop the necessary force to effect removal involves a hydraulic tool which compresses the draft gear from the front end while being anchored in the yoke head key or pin openings. The problem with this method is that the yoke is pulled forward to the full extent and cannot belowered past the coupler carrier portion of the striker casting because of physical interference.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved yoke containing integral compressing means to shorten a'high capacity draft gear for installation into a railway draft gear pocket. 7

Another object is to provide a means to precompress a draft gear for removal from the pocket in such a manner as to cause the front end of the yoke to clear the coupler carrier portion of the striker casting.

A further object is to provide an installation and removal means for high capacity draft gears that is safe to personnel and non-damaging to the components.

- These and other advantages will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment and from the attached drawings illustrating the invention. In the drawings: I

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the yoke in an operative position; I

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the yoke illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view in partial cross-section illustrating the yoke in an operative position within the draft gear pocket in a car sill; and a FIG. 4 is an exploded view, in perspective of another embodiment of the invention.

In accordance with the present invention and in attainment of the foregoing objects, there is provided a yoke for use in draft rigging of railway cars. The yoke includes a pair of vertically spaced longitudinally extending straps connected forwardly by tie bars, and connectable to a coupler and connected rearwardly by a vertically directed rear 'wall. The rear wall contains inner and outer surfaces and there is one or more longi- 1 tudinal apertures in thewall extending from the inner surface to the outer surface. The aperture has a larger cross-section at the inner surface than at the outer surface. A plug member is slidably disposed in the larger cross-section of the aperture. Means are disposed in the smaller cross-section of the aperture for urging or sliding the plug member outwardly. The urging means and plug member are capable of compressing a draft gear disposed between the longitudinal straps of the yoke.

Referring to the drawings, the yoke l is similar to a conventional yoke with the exception of the butt or rear wall 2 which has been modified with the integral draft gear compressing means. The rear wall 2 interconnecting the spaced upper and lower straps 5 and 6 is provided with preferably two cylindrical apertures 7 located on the vertical centerline and spaced equally above and below the horizontal centerline and oriented in a direction parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the yoke.

The apertures 7 from the rear surface 8 of the yoke butt to approximately two-thirds of the distance to the front surface 9 are tapped or threaded to accept set bolts 3 and the remaining distance 11 is of a larger diameter or cross-section than the threaded portion to receive hardened metal plugs 4.

The draft gear 13 is compressed by hydraulic means and held in place by advancing the bolts 3 and plugs 4 manually by means of a suitable wrench until the gear is shortened in compression enough to enter the draft gear pocket 18 as shown in FIG. 3.

With the draft gear 13 in place, the bolts 3 are retracted allowing the plugs 4 to retract and the gear 13 and follower 14 to expand against the draft lugs 16 and 17 attached to the sill 20. The yoke is then pulled forward to allow mating of the follower with the butt 22 of a coupler 24. Thus, in operation, the plugs 4 are normally recessed from the front surface 9 of the yoke butt 2 and would not interfere with the draft gear 13 occupying the space 12 within the yoke.

To remove the draft gear 13 and yoke 1 from the draft gear pocket 18 within the sill 20, the set bolts 3 are advanced into'the threaded, apertures 7 in the rear wall 2 and the plugs 4 are forced into the space 12 compressing the draft gear 13 against the front follower l4 and yoke head 15- thus relieving the draft lugs 16 and 17 of the draft gear precompression load. This frees the draft gear for easy removal from the draft gear pocket 18 together with the yoke l and front follower 14. To remove the draft gear from the yoke l, the set bolts 3 need only to be retracted.

While the above description implies that the yoke requires machining for the set bolts 3 and plugs 4, the yoke casting could be made with cored apertures and an insert used to provide the necessary dimensional control. In this case, the inserts could be manufactured on an automatic screw machine and could be secured in the cored apertures in the butt by welding, or by retaining shoulders 25 with lugs 26 to prevent rotation as shown in FIG. 4.

From the above description, it will be apparent that there has been provided an improved draft gear yoke with integral compressing means for installation and removal of a draft gear to and from a railroad car draft gear pocket. It should be understood that the disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to be included that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

The embodiments of an invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A yoke, for use in draft rigging of railway cars, comprising'a pair of vertically spaced longitudinally exposed in the smaller cross-section for sliding the plug member outwardly, said means and plug member being capable of compressing a draft gear disposed between the longitudinal straps.

2. The yoke of claim 1 in which the rear wall contains two longitudinal apertures positioned on the vertical centerline thereof and spaced equally above and below the horizontal centerline.

3. The yoke of claim 1 in which the larger crosssection of the aperture comprises approximately onethird thereof.

4. The yoke of claim 1 in which a portion of the aperture, from the outer surface of the wall, is threaded and the sliding means is a set bolt.

5. The yoke of claim 1 in which the longitudinal apertures are formed in the rear wall by coring and a separate insert applied and secured therein, said coredaperture having shoulders to retain the insert in the longitudinal direction and lugs to interlock with cooperating grooves in the front surface of said rear wall to prevent rotational movement. 

1. A yoke, for use in draft rigging of railway cars, comprising a pair of verticallY spaced longitudinally extending straps connectable forwardly by tie bars or a yoke head and connectable to a coupler, and connected rearwardly by a vertically directed rear wall having inner and outer surfaces, there being at least one longitudinal aperture in the wall extending from the inner surface to the outer surface, the aperture having a larger crosssection at the inner surface than at the outer surface, a plug member slidably disposed in the larger cross-section of the aperture and means disposed in the smaller cross-section for sliding the plug member outwardly, said means and plug member being capable of compressing a draft gear disposed between the longitudinal straps.
 2. The yoke of claim 1 in which the rear wall contains two longitudinal apertures positioned on the vertical centerline thereof and spaced equally above and below the horizontal centerline.
 3. The yoke of claim 1 in which the larger cross-section of the aperture comprises approximately one-third thereof.
 4. The yoke of claim 1 in which a portion of the aperture, from the outer surface of the wall, is threaded and the sliding means is a set bolt.
 5. The yoke of claim 1 in which the longitudinal apertures are formed in the rear wall by coring and a separate insert applied and secured therein, said cored aperture having shoulders to retain the insert in the longitudinal direction and lugs to interlock with cooperating grooves in the front surface of said rear wall to prevent rotational movement. 